This invention relates generally to imaging systems capable of scanning objects in multi modalities and more particularly to multi-modality systems wherein the modalities have different fields of views.
The present invention is directed toward multi-modal imaging systems capable of scanning using different modalities, such as, for example, but not limited to, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Computed Tomography (CT). The difference between multi-mode and multi-modality is that multi-mode systems are utilized to perform scans in different modes (e.g., a fluoro mode and a tomosynthesis mode), while a multi-modal system (multi-modality system) is utilized to perform scans in different modalities (e.g., CT and PET). It is contemplated that the benefits of the invention accrue to all multi-modality imaging systems, such as, for example, but not limited to, a CT/PET imaging system.
At least some multi-modality systems have different fields of views (FOVs) for the different modalities. For example, a CT/PET system may have a CT FOV which is smaller than a PET FOV, and under some scanning conditions, portions of a patient may extend beyond the region measured by a CT detector, which may lead to image artifacts and an incomplete representation of the imaged object. Some known methods have been published that address the artifact reduction but not the imaging of the portion of the patient that is outside the CT FOV.
In such multi-modality systems, such as, for example, an integrated PET-CT system there is an inherent registration of the PET and CT images the system acquires. Since the patient lies still on the same table during the PET and CT portions of the acquisition, the patient will be in a consistent position and orientation during the two acquisitions, greatly simplifying the process of correlating and fusing the CT and PET images. This allows the CT image to be used to provide attenuation correction information for the reconstruction of the PET image, and allows an image reader to easily correlate the anatomic information presented in the CT image and the functional information presented in the PET image. However, it is desirable to provide attenuation information for the reconstruction of the PET image of the portion of the patient that extends beyond the CT FOV. It is also desirable to provide accurate attenuation information for the PET image inside the FOV (Note that artifacts caused by truncation produce biased attenuation information).